5-alarm blaze destroys Pepperbelly's comedy club in Fairfield

A five-alarm fire destroyed a popular comedy club in Fairfield on Friday, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 6:45 p.m. at The Original Pepperbelly's Comedy & Variety Theater, located at 849 Texas St.

Fire Chief Vincent Webster said the blaze may have started inside two-story structure.

Firefighters decided they could not fight the fire from inside and battled it from outside, Webster said.

"It's a smoky situation," Fairfield spokeswoman Gale Spears said. The amount of smoke caused the fire to be escalated to five alarms, she said.

The fire took about four hours to extinguish, Spears said. Between 90 and 100 firefighters from six cities responded. One crew planned to remain at the club overnight, Spears said.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

A fire inspector told Spears he likely would not investigate the building until Monday.

The club, which attracts a number of standup comedians, was playing host Friday night to a bill that featured Honest John. On its Facebook page, the club had been offering free tickets to the show just prior to the fire.

"Come celebrate the end of the week with some great stand up comedy!" the last status update read.

Fans were quick to react to news of the blaze in an outpouring of support on social media sites.

According to Brad Stanhope, a reporter for the Fairfield Daily Republic newspaper, Pepperbelly's opened originally as a theater in 1921 and went under several different names.